Editorial: Fed up with big money in U.S. politics

A reader recently admonished us for stating, without supporting evidence, that the U.S. government is controlled by a small group of anonymous rich people.

One needs only to look at the priorities of the United States Congress or the fundraising strategies of leading presidential candidates. Consider the lament of "bundlers," those well-connected insiders who used to be courted because they could package lots and lots of $2,300 contributions into six-figure bundles.

"A couple presidential elections ago, somebody who had raised, say, $100,000 for a candidate was viewed as a fairly valuable asset," lobbyist Kenneth Kies told the Washington Post in March. "Today, that looks like peanuts. People like me are probably looking around saying, 'How can I do anything that even registers on the Richter scale?'"

So yes, thanks to the Supreme Court having granted overwhelming influence to very big money and the apathy of at least half of the electorate, American democracy is slowly turning into the American plutocracy. Fortunately, people have begun to realize that. Unfortunately, it will be hard for them to stop it unless they get off the couch. Money never sleeps.

A New York Times-CBS News poll released last week found that by overwhelming margins, Americans "agree that money has too much influence on elections, the wealthy have more influence on elections, and candidates who win office promote policies that help their donors."

Americans are hip to what's going on. But they're pessimistic that anything can be done about it. More than half of those in the poll were pessimistic that campaign finance rules would be improved. Over half of respondents said that the current rules equally benefit the Democratic and Republican Parties.

While it's true that Democrats have access to vast sums of big-donor money at the national level, Republicans enjoy a big advantage in most state governments. State legislators are easily swayed by special-interest cash. A study by political scientist Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia found that since the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision in 2010, the GOP has enjoyed a net gain of 913 seats among some 7,000 legislative seats in the 50 states. Republicans have full control of 30 legislatures, Democrats only 11.

This is important not only because of the kind of working-class-hostile, wealthy-friendly laws that are passed, but because legislatures control legislative redistricting processes in most states. Thus the influence of big money tends to be self-perpetuating.

Politicians should realize that the people are way ahead of them on this issue. Americans are cynical about the role campaign cash plays and about the self-interest behind the process. There does not yet appear to be the critical mass necessary to force a change. But for the sake of the American democracy, change must come. That's obvious.